The natural scenery of Michigan is imposing. The extensive tracts of dense forests, clothed with the richest verdure, fresh as when it first came from the hands of the Creator; the prairies and lakes which abound, the wide parks, whose soil is entirely covered for miles with large and rich flowers, present a striking and agreeable contrast. The beech and black walnut, the elm, the maple, the hickory, and the oaks of different species and large size, the lind and the bass-wood, and various other kinds of forest trees, plainly indicate the fertility of the soil from whence they spring. Grape vines often hang from the branches a foot in circumference, clustering around their trunks, or thickening the undergrowth along the banks of rivers; and, while the glades open to the sun like cultivated grounds, the more thickly-timbered forests, shut out from the sky by the mass of vegetation, present in summer a gloomy twilight. In traveling along the main roads of Michigan, splendid tracts of park-like lawns sweep along the path for miles covered with flowers, broken by prairies, thick forests, and lakes. Fort Gratiot stands at the foot of Lake Huron and commands the entrance to the upper lakes. Advancing along the western shore of this lake the voyager sees a long, alluvial bank covered with a forest of pine, poplar, beech, and hemlock. On advancing further the banks become more elevated until they rise to forty feet in height. About fifty miles from Fort Gratiot, a large rock rises to the surface of the lake, a mile or so from the shore, which is called the "White Rock." From the earliest period this rock has been regarded as an altar or a landmark. It was to the early voyagers a beacon to guide them in their course; but to the Indians it was a place of oblation, where they offered sacrifices to the spirits of the lakes. Saginaw Bay is a large indentation of the shoreline like to that of Green Bay in Lake Michigan, but not so large. Near its centre are a number of small islands. Twenty miles from its mouth stands the thriving town of Saginaw. From the northwesterly cape of Saginaw Bay to Flat Rock Point, the shore of Lake Huron presents a bank of alluvial soil, with a margin of sand along its border intersected with frequent masses of limestone rock, in some places ground to fragments by the surging of the waves. Thunder Bay is also another indentation made by the Lake. It was thus called from the impression that at this point the air was more than ordinarily charged with electricity. Bois Blanc Island, at the head of Lake Huron, stretches in the form of a crescent between the Island of Mackinac and the lower peninsula of Michigan. It is from ten to twelve miles in length by three or four in breadth. The lower part of this island is sandy, but the larger portion of it is covered with a fertile soil bearing a forest of elm, maple, oak, ash, whitewood and beech. It has been surveyed and a government light-house stands on its eastern point.